Courtney had played in several bands before, namely Sugar Babydoll [or Babylon] (with Kat from Babes In Toyland and Jennifer from L7 - and now - Other Star People) and Faith no More, during which no songwriting or producing occured.

"She called me up and talked my ear off and I was like 'Who the hell was that?' " "We met at this coffee shop, and I saw her and I thought, 'Oh, God oh no, what am I getting myself into?' She grabbed me and started talking, and she's like 'I know you're the right one!' And I hadn't even opened my mouth yet." --Eric

After releasing a few singles [Retard Girl, Burn Black /Dicknail] which raised some attention, they decided to put out an actual album. In 1991 they released thier debut album, Pretty On the Inside. Only one single was released from this album: Teenage Whore, the opening song. This was a German import and featured the b-sides Burn Black and Drown Soda.

At this time their lineup was: Courtney Love [guitar, vocals] Eric Erlandson [guitar] Caroline Rue [drums] Jill Emery [bass]. Caroline Rue met Eric and Courtney at a Gwar concert. Courtney had noticed Caroline watching Dee at an L7 concert, and asked her if she was a drummer. Jill's paintings were used on a lot of Hole's work. The painting on the back of Pretty On The Inside is Jill's.

There are varied theories on where the band acquired its name. Basically, as has been stated by Courtney in numerous interviewss, the name Hole comes from a play in which the title character speaks the following line: "there's a hole that pierces right through me." The word also arose in a conversation Courtney once had with her mother when her mother said to her," Courtney, you can't go walking around with a hole inside yourself becuase you had a bad childhood."

Soon after Pretty On The Inside was released, Caroline Rue and Jill Emery left the band. No definite reasons were given for this. Jill Emery now plays in Mazzy Star.

While the album did not grant the band instant success, it was analyzed, criticized, labeled "angry vagina music," and thoroughly enjoyed - depending on which reviewer you asked. The album conveyed a lot of pain and suffering - and when questioned about it in an interview, Courtney Love claimed to possess a large quantity of that pain. Many found the imagery of death and abortion - among other things - incredibly disturbing if not simply grotesque.

In 1994 they released thier second LP, Live Through This. Though the album was slow-selling at first, it soon became known as 'album of the year' by several magazines, and went gold. Four days before the album was released, Courtney Love's husband, Nirvana singer/songwriter Kurt Cobain, was found dead from a self-inflicted shotgun wound.

At the time of Live Through This' release, the lineup was Courtney, Eric, Kristen Phaff and Patty Schemel. On June 16th, Phaff died in her bathtub from a heroin overdose. She had been planning on leaving Seattle to return to her hometown the following day. She was 24. Her death was ruled an accident rather than suicide. The members of Hole were shocked, as Phaff wasn't a heavy heroin user. Hole eventually recovered and Melissa Auf Der Maur replaced Phaff. Melissa was introduced to the members of Hole by Billy Corgan, and was reluctant at first to leave Canada and her band, Tinker. Melissa has a major interest in photography, and 3 of her photos appeared in the latest issue of Spin. Also, the magazine "Flaunt" published a picture she had taken of herself in a bathtub. The picture shows Melissa's chest with blood on it, and as an explanation Melissa offered: "I was very sad in the bathtub and when I'm sad, my nose really does bleed."

Hole's old record company, Caroline, released an EP in '95, called Ask For It. Most of the tracks off the cd are from early in Hole's career, so the lineup is the same as was on Pretty On The Inside.

Perhaps in an effort to hold fans over until the much delayed release of Hole's third full-length album, a Hole anthology album was released in Europe called "My Body, The Hand Grenade." Their most recent album was released on the eighth of September, and is called "Celebrity Skin." The album went gold, and sold just under 86,000 copies in its first week of release. Celebrity Skin is the title of a US magazine that published nude pictures of celebrities. There is also a L.A. band called Celebrity Skin. They reacted to the use of their name by re-releasing thier debut album and calling it... "Hole."

The magazine called Celebrity Skin tried to sue Hole for using thier name, but that went nowhere. Recently, Courtney got in trouble with the law again for assaulting a photographer who took her picture after she told her not to.

Soon after Celebrity Skin was released, Patty Schemel announced that she was leaving the band. There were rumoured disputes in the band, and rumors that the band had gotten someone else to play Patty's drum parts. It was said to be only temporary, but it looks as though it will be permanent. Samantha Maloney is now the drummer for Hole.

In late 1998, Hole announced that they would be touring with Marilyn Manson. This tour was highly anticipated, as much for the two musicians' famed onstage antics as for the music. A term was coined that was thought to perfectly describe the tour: Beautiful Monsters. The tour was planned to last several months, starting in February of 1999, and focusing on huge arenas. Nine shows into the tour, it was cancelled due to what was officially called financial disputes. It's a known fact, however, that Courtney and Brian were often at each other's throats, and that Courtney was supposedly disgusted with Brian's excessive drug use. The tour's demise was a great disappointment for some. Others found it a relief. To read reviews from the 9 played shows of the Beautiful Monsters Tour, go here.

Later on in 1999, an Australian single for the song "Awful" was released. This was significant because it was discontinued the day of its release, and therefore was sought out by every Hole collector. It went for over $40 on Ebay. The single included live versions of Northern Star, Awful, Pretty on the Inside, and Heaven Tonight, and included a remix of Malibu.

In November of 1999, Melissa Auf der Maur announced she was quitting Hole. She is now the bassist in the Smashing Pumpkins, whose front man Billy Corgan originally recommended Melissa for Hole. The Smashing Pumpkins have recently announced that they plan on breaking up at the end of the year 2000. It is unknown whether Melissa will re-join Hole at this time.

The movie "Man on the Moon," which stars Jim Carey and Courtney Love and documents the life and work of Andy Kaufman, came to movie theaters recently. She is also supposed to play an FBI agent in an upcoming movie, and is planning on directing in the future.